This book definitely has a slant toward rehabilitation rather than pure strength. It touches on posture among other things. I would recommend that people use this book with some others. This one is weak on exercises in general, but is valuable to have. I have had back problems and I find that once I learn an easy exercise that works, I have to move on to a different one. There is another book "Stronger Abs and Back: 165 Exercises to Build Your Center of Power" that would be a good companion. Norris is very scientific and that is very refreshing after reading a lot of BAD back pain books.

This is a great book by a really good author. He is very grounded in science and there are a lot of different exercises. I am someone who is working to overcome back pain and about 50% of this book is too technical for me. Like some other authors talk about, one of the key points in the book is the some back pain is caused by poor posture and alignment of the pelvis. This is central to Pilates as well. I have found this to be true, but correcting it is the tricky part.

While you won't fully understand what is going on in deconstructionism after reading this book, you'll probably be closer than most. Deconstructionism is probably the most misunderstood "thing" around. Norris provides an incredibly fair and balanced presentation of the basic issues and main misreadings of the people involved. If you want a basic overview of what is going on that doesn't attempt to reduce everything to pragmatism or relativism, then this is the place to start. This was the first book that made me go, "ah, I at least understand what the problems are."

My only complaint is that I wish Norris spent more time on Heidegger and the roots of deconstructionism. However given how complex Heidegger is, this is understandable. After reading Norris I'd suggest going back to something like _Between the Blinds: A Derrida Reader_. He'll make a whole lot more sense after reading Norris.

I have a bunch of audio books narrated by Alan Cumming, and I have to say that Mr. Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye To Berlin are the two best I ever heard. Maybe it's because that Alan was the Emcee in the musical Cabaret, for which these two books lent inspiration to. But for whatever reason, Alan brings you into the magical world of divine decadence in pre-war Berlin with Arthur Norris, the ideal of an enigma; Fraulein Schroeder, the chatty, light and amusing landlady; Otto and Anni, the next generation of Germans; and of course the narrator Chris. Alan knows what he's reading and because of his divine comprehension, he makes the recording sound so much more fun and enjoyable to listen to!

I don't know what to make of this book. It's a bit of a bore. This is due in part to the lack of a smooth narrative flow and its inexorable amount of difficult passages the reader must drudge through. Instead of being a pleasure to read it becomes a task. The book entices you with its characters but then makes you suffer to find fruition. It is still interesting however.

Berlin Stories is a wonderful book. I am reading it again it's so good!!!!!!! The writing is absolutely impeccable. Though I read it because of my obsession with the musical "Cabaret", I found it to be a great book in its own right. I think Isherwood would be proud of the current Broadway version of "Cabaret". I don't know what else to say:)

As another reviewer implies, Christopher Isherwood is a master of prose. He succiently and subtlely captures a time, places and people in 1930's Berlin. There are some wonderful characters including Sally Bowles, who is the model for stage version of Cabaret. Indeed, Isherwood, himself, in a forward to this book, tells us what happens when he meets Juliet Harris (?), who first plays Bowles on stage around 1959.

This is very easy to read; the events are a bit disheartening at times and the characters aren't always admirable--but they're very true to life. The reader, too, really gets a picture of how German people felt during the rise of Nazism. Highly recommended!

Christopher Norris, once called "a prominent second rung deconstructionist..." by Roger Kimball, is nevertheless, among writers allied to the postmodern movement, more critical than most. This book is not an easy read for the author has the habit of alluding to rather than explaining the views he argues for and against. Norris has mastered a large corpus of postmodern work, genuinely striving to find something of value in it. He detects traces of critical analytical thought behind the smoke screens of obscurantism in the writings of Derrida, for example, and balances his arguments by emphasizing these. He argues that postmodern writers have encountered the same philosophical problems grappled by philosophers throughout history; it is the method, language and conclusions of postmodernists which set them apart; which, one is forced to conclude, does not leave much of value.

Unfortunately Professor Norris has absorbed a great deal of the language-salad jargon of postmodernism and generously attached to that terminology respectable philosophical notions which might not be shared by many. He uses phrases such as "linguistic tropes" and "genealogies of ideas" along side "synthetic/analytic distinction" and "empirical methodology", as if they were expressions of equally valid philosophical notions. The term "suasive" is used when "persuasive" would have done just fine. This kind of thing, and the book is peppered with it, makes reading "Against Relativism" heavy going. It is worth the effort, however, for the encompassing analysis Christopher Norris provides and for the insights it gives into the shreds of meaning that can be wrung from some postmodern work.

Norris offers an acute survey of Derrida's deconstructive project and tools. He also argues in Derrida's defense that American scholars who read Derrida as a proponent of a Barthe-like free-for-all are mistaken. The arguments are clear, and the text is relatively easy reading.

positions is a collection of three interviews with derrida, all of which offer a pretty good introduction to his line of thought. this book is a lot better starting point than say, 'of grammatology', its really a lot less intimidating. this is of course because derrida is speaking verbally, 'improvising', and there isnt as much seemingly paradoxical word play. from 'positions' you can get a pretty good idea about what differance, logocentrism, and grammatology are all about. ignore all the criticism of derrida as a reductionist/nihilist who wants to demolish philosophy, he is a brilliant, poetic, innovative man.

ABDOMINAL TRAINING is a good book for the beginning bodybuilder. It provides the reader with a solid base of understanding on the proper way to train abs. However, it provides nothing new for the experienced or hardcore bodybuilder. Some of the exercises are a little old-fashioned, but all in all it is a solid reading experience. I recommend it for someone who would like to develop a knowledge base, but if you want something new, you probably won't find it here.